Means foe obtaining water power



(No Model.)

D. N. LONG. y MEANS FOR OBTAINING WATER POWER. No. 404,851. Patented June 11, 1889.'`

- Witnesses..d ,Eg .www "w Inventor.. Mw... W Byf www www' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. g

DAVID N. LONG, OF'VILLIAIWISVIIJLE, NEY YORK. i

M EANS FIOR OBTAINING WATER-POWER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,851, dated June 11, 1889.

Application filed September 20,'1888. Serial No. 285,857. (No model.)

To all whom it 71mg/ concern.: y

Be it known that I, DAVID N. LONG, a citizen of the United States, residing in IVilliamsville, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IVater-Power, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a certain means for obtaining waterpower from one or more points along a river having a sufficiently high fall of water, the object being to obtain the power at any point or points along the river above the riverfalls, as will be fully and clearly hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings; and the invention consists in combinin g with the river above the river-falls an open canal of sufficient depth below the riverbed to insure the required fall or power, said canal`to run along the river, or run as the character of the land will permit, 'and to have its head closed, so that no water can get in except through a out from the river to the canal, and having its outlet at a convenient point i'n the river below the river-falls, or at any suitable point below said river-falls, and one or more cross cuts or slips for conducting the water from the river to the caral, thereby giving a fall of water corresponding in height to the difference between the bed of the river l and the depth of the can al, which may be from iive to ten, twenty, fifty, or more feet lower than the bed of the river,'accor ;ling to the height of the river-falls.

Figure l is a sectional elevation through line a b, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section through line c d, Fig. l.

In said drawings, l represents the main channel or river, along the shore of which is a deep cut or canal 2, running parallel with the surface of the river, or substantially so, and as far below the bed of the river as it is practicable to make it consistent with a sufficient and free outlet for the water.

At any point along the shore of the river above the river-falls I cut a series of slips 3, through which the water iiows and from thence over the bank and down into the auxiliary canal, for the purpose of operatin g a turbine water-wheel or other water-motor 4, and thereby insure a sufficient and reliable water-power at any desired point substantially along or near the river. The water-motor of any kind may be located at any suitable point or points either in the cross-cuts or in t-he canal. By this construction it will be seen thatthe water-motor 4 is located as far down below the bed of the river as the relative height of the water in the canal will permit, an d from which the power may be transmitted to any suitable point for use, either by the usual vertical shaft 5 and bevel-gearing 6 7 or in any wellknown way. It will be further seen that the water-motor receives the full force of the fall, due to the difference between the height of the river and the auxiliary canal, and may be utilized in the same manner as any ordinary water-power by using any motor capable of receiving and transmitting the power. l

By means of my invention I obtain power at any point on or near the river above the river-falls,which is a great advantage over any means heretofore used for that purpose. For instance, when a large city (like Buffalo, New York) is located on a river having a high fall of water some twenty or more miles below or away from the city, and the power is required in or near the city, it would be impossible to get it there by the old method of utilizing the water-power at or below .the falls; but by means of my invention power can be developed at Buffalo on lake navigation twenty miles above the falls.

I am aware that power has heen obtained by running a canal along the bank of a river below the river-falls, and thereby taking the water from the river, and by cross cuts or slips from the canal conducting the water over the bank into the river below. By this means considerable power may be obtained when the banks below the river-falls are sufficiently high for the purpose; but this mode is useless where the river-banks below the falls are not high enough to insure a sufficient fall of water, or where such banks are of such a nature that it would be impraeticable to cut a canal through. I therefore do not claim such means; but

What I do claim is- The herein-described mode of obtaining-1oo water-power along the river above the riverlalls, consist-ing in combining therewith an auxiliary canal located alongl the river above the river-falls, havin g its bed below the bed of the main stream o1` river and having its head or upper end Closed and the foot o1l lower end open at some point near the surface of the river below the river-falls, in combination with a Series of eros-guts `from said upper river to the canal, and a means located at io Suitable points fol1 receiving and transmitting the power, Substantially described.

DAVID N. LONG. Vitnesses:

ARTHUR J. SANGSTER, JAMES SANGSTER. 

